Help:Photos FAQ
Categories: WikiTree Help | Image Help
Here are questions and answers related to images.
How do you add a photo?
To add pictures to a profile simply click on an "[upload image]" link in the photo section.
This will enable you to browse your hard drive for a photo to upload.
After uploading you can edit the information about the photo, i.e. the who, what, when, and where.
Repeat this for as many photos as you like.
How do you remove or delete a photo?
To remove a profile's Primary Photo (the one that appears as a thumbnail at the top) first edit that setting in the right column of the edit page for the photo.
To remove the photo from the profile, click on the photo. This will open the Photo Edit page. On the left side of the page, where it says "People, Places & Things in the Photo," select "REMOVE" next to the appropriate name(s), then click "Save Changes to Photo Info" at the bottom of the page. When you save the changes, the photo will not appear on any profiles.
This disconnects the image from any profile, but it will still exist in the database for a short period of time so that it can be recovered. This way photos can't be maliciously or mistakenly deleted.
If you need to completely delete a photo immediately because it contains offensive or illegal content that violates our Terms of Service, e-mail info@wikitree.com. This should only be done in emergency situations, e.g. with inappropriate photos of children.
How do you edit photo information?
To add or change the title, location, date, or identification of people or things in a photo, click the "view/edit" link underneath a picture.
The edit page also enables you to add comments. This is a good place to give a fuller context or add your personal memories.
How do you know if you have permission to upload a photo?
Generally speaking, you have permission to upload a photo if:
- you took the photo yourself.
- the person who took the photo gave you permission to share it on WikiTree.
- the image is in the public domain. See Stanford University's definition of public domain and the Legal Genealogist's "Copyright and the old family photo."
You generally do not have permission if you downloaded it from another website.
Commercial sites such as Ancestry.com and Find-A-Grave do not generally allow republishing images. Even non-commercial sites may disallow public sharing of downloaded images. You need to check their terms of use. For example, here is the Wisconsin Vital records terms of use.
Can anyone see photos?
Anyone can see the tiny thumbnail version of any photo. This includes the thumbnails that appear in activity feeds.
If a profile is private only those on the Trusted List can see the full-size versions and the photo details. However, if anyone in the photo is public the photo will be public.
If you want to make a photo viewable by everyone, you can create a public Free-Space Profile and add the photo to it.
See Photo Privacy for more information.
How do you upload a printed image to WikiTree?
To get an image on your computer you need to scan it. Scanners these days are simple to use and can cost around $50.
If you don't have a scanner, copy shops can scan images for you.
Even easier (but lower-quality): if you have a digital camera or a phone with a camera, take a picture of the printed image. You can then upload the photo as you normally would.
How do you change the order of people identified in a photo?
You might want the caption that names the people in a photo to list them from left-to-right, so that you can identify who is who.
You can do this in the comments section but not in the name list.
We will be adding an advanced system in the future that allows you to "tag" faces in a photo. You will be able to move your cursor over a person and have their name appear. This is better for group photos because sometimes people don't stand in perfect left-to-right order.
How do you change the order of photos on a profile?
This is not currently possible. Photos appear on a profile in the order in which they were uploaded.
In the future, we do plan to add a feature that enables you to sort photos.
Why does my portrait/vertical photo display as landscape/horizontal?
Some operating systems and browsers automatically reorient the display of a photo. It may have been taken horizontally but it appears vertically on your computer because your system "knows" that's the proper orientation. WikiTree isn't this sophisticated. It displays photos as they are uploaded. You should be able to rotate the photo on your local system and save it, then upload it to WikiTree.
How do you display a photo in the text of any page?
Images normally appear along the right-hand side of the profiles they're attached to, as well as on the profile's Images tab. But you can also display them within the text of a profile page or category page, or within a template.
Click to the photo detail page and look near the bottom of the right column for a section entitled "Use Inside Text". There you will find copy-and-paste code that looks something like this:
- {{Image|file=MyPhoto.jpg
- |caption=Caption text
- }}
Insert this code inside the text where you want the image to appear.
For more inline image options and instructions, see Template:Image. Ask in G2G if you need help.
Why doesn't my PDF upload have an image thumbnail?
You can upload and store PDF files as images on WikiTree, but we are not currently able to display them as images. Their thumbnail will be the Adobe PDF logo. Clicking on the full-sized version will show the full PDF as normal.
What's the difference between photos and source images?
A photo is an image of a person or thing. A source is an image about a person or thing. See Image Types for more explanation.
How do you find an existing image?
All the images attached to profiles in your Watchlist are browseable through the "Images" link in the "My WikiTree" pull-down menu at the top of this page.
You can browse some images that others have uploaded at Category:Images.
Click here to search all public images on WikiTree by keyword.
How should disagreements about the visual appearance of profiles be handled?
Ask a question in G2G if you didn't find your answer here.
See also:
- Help:Uploading Documents
- Help:Photo Privacy
- Help:Primary Photo
- Help:Edit-Photo Page, aka Photo Details Pages
This page was last modified 12:49, 4 February 2022. This page has been accessed 95,791 times.